HQ Sennelager, Tank Hangar, August 1983
"So, Lampart? What do you think of our future new commander?"
Norman Lampart sat on the front armour of a certain Mk.11 Chieftain shifting his view towards Lloyd Carter who was busy restocking the ammo containers of the tank.
"I like her, to be honest. At least from what I've heard. I know you don't like how she works, but I respect her deeply"
Carter laughed. "You know, I got a problem with the fact that she's a woman and Japanese, too. Also, you don't have to sit next to her"
This made Lampart stand up and laugh.
"What? Does she smell or what?"
Quickly Carter corrected himself. "No, no, not at all, at least I hope so. I just feel a little uncomfortable around someone like her, you know? Did you know that she kicked out her previous crew, because she found them irresistibly incompetent and then she requested replacement from HQ?"
Lampart tapped his chin.
"So that's why we got assigned here all of the sudden, eh? I wonder how much leverage that girl has"
"She's bloody scary, I tell you"
Right at that moment a short, lean, asian woman looking younger than she actually is with blue-dyed hair swirled around the corner and entered the tank hangar.
"Carter? Lampart?", she asked with a rough, stern, but energetic and steady voice, which really suited how she appeared in that tank hangar.
"Yes? I'm Lampart", he replied with a questioning look.
"I'm Hikaru Akira, good to meet you" She smiled a bit.
"I sincerely hope you two are as good as I heard you are"
Carter was visibly shaken, however, Lampart actually took her outstretched hand to shake it.
"I am sure we will work together perfectly. You are actually different than I imagined, Ms. Akira, ma'am"
She tilted her head.
"Oh? You probably thought of me as a strict militaristic person who knows no fun and works like a machine? Yeah, I get that a lot. In times of duty, I do get very, very serious, so, there's a warning for you. Don't mess around when in action, understand? I am fully open for ideas other than mine, but never ever fool around when seriousness is the order of the day"
Lampart and even Carter saluted.
"Understood, ma'am!"
"If I may be allowed one question?", Lampart continued.
Akira nodded. "You can ask questions at any time"
"Who's gonna be our gunner? We are still understaffed"
"Don't worry, she'll arrive in a few minutes"
A loud groaning could be heard from Carter as he mumbled a "Another woman, great... welcome to the pussy army...", however it was loud enough for both Lampart and Akira to hear that remark.
A very stern look from Akira was enough to make him sorry he ever uttered this as another woman entered the hangar. This time, a red-head, most certainly from Scotland, as tall as the both of the men. "Private Hailey Marrow, reporting for duty, ma'am!"
Akira saluted back.
"Welcome, Marrow. So you are the famous Red Shot, the guys at Glasgow seem to never stop talking about?"
"Apparently, ma'am!"
She was still stiff as a brick standing in the entrance with head hand at her head.
"Right, right. Relax, Marrow. I'm not that much higher and as long as we don't need it, over-complicating our relationship here with ranks.
Remember, guys. This is one thing I /want/ you to hammer into your head.
We are a team. We can't operate this machine all alone. We have to depend on the other. Especially me as the commander. I have to be absolutely sure, my crew does what I tell them and does the tasks to the best of their abilities. Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes, Akira, ma'am!", came the unanimous response. Akira nodded and turned around to begin walking back to the entrance, but then she stopped.
"Oh, and, by the way... call me Hikaru", she shrugged and swirled around on her heels.
"First task of the day, up up and to the bar. We'll have to get to know each other, don't you think?"
...
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